Scary Australian cockroaches - removal tips!

[Eralc]

Having just about convinced myself that we wouldn't be getting anything grim/scary/nasty in the house (have seen things but only outside up until now), I was most upset to find a bit fat horribly cockroach sitting waiting for me in the bathroom last night. Yuck. I can only assume that it also has cockroach friends that I have yet to discover in other places.

Am now planning to go shopping at the weekend for the ultimate cockroach removal kit - I am not sharing my house with the nasty things! So, am after any top anti-cockroach suggsetions that people can come up with. A friends here has suggested a good fly swat as a way to mash them enough that they don't reassemble, but am keen to know what otehrs use (oh, and I'm 5 months pregnant, so a bit wary of super toxic chemicals!)

Thanks so much for any help - I love Australia, but there are some bits I could really live without (god knows how I will cope when we get our first venomous thing inside the house!)

[TorturesInAHalfHell]

Ewww, fly swat and mashed cockroach. Don't do that. Ewwwww.

Mortein do cockroach baits which are supposed to kill them and send them (pre-killed, obviously) scuttling back to their nests taking the poison with them. We definitely see a decrease in cockroaches when I remember to put those out, and they're easy and clean to use.

Otherwise I just nuke them with insect spray. Are you in Sydney? The warmer cities are awful for cockroaches.

[TanteRoseFromTheDead]

Don't swat them - their eggs fly out everywhere to reinfect the place...

I use the hoover to suck them up, and then when they are trapped in the bag, use insect spray directly into the bag and then throw the whole bag away. (disclaimner: only use with a vaccuum cleaner that uses bags...you wouldn't want a cockroach in the filter of your Dyson...!)

(am in Japan, with big bastard roaches here too..)

oh, the Huntsman spider is good at catching roaches so don't kill it if it gets in the house...although I suppose in Aus you would have to be certain it was a Huntsman and not a poisonous one.

Good luck!

[esselle]

This is what menfolk are for - roach removal!!

Eeeeeeeuuuuwwww!!!

I have found that in an emergency that a thong (flip flop) is a good bug killer too.

Good luck!!

[Eralc]

Hehe - I did think that about the fly swat - didn't fancy clearing up the remains! Will look out for the mortein baits - can you pick them up in Coles/Woolies, or will it be a Bunnings type thing?

We are in Sydney - am very glad that we are not further North though - I would think that however many of the things there are here, that some of the cities in Queensland must have it much worse (and more of the other nasties too).

[Eralc]

And I'm not sure I could live with a huntsman in the house (the one that lives in the recycling bin lid is fearsome enough looking for me!)

Will arm myself with a whole load of new hoover bags too :)

After I found the one last night, I spent the whole night convinced that I could feel them crawling on me. Argh!

[bunnygirl80]

Don't mash them - they release their eggs when you squash them leading to even more cockroaches!

I use the Mortein baits tortures mentioned inside the house- we've seen hardly any since I put those out. You can also get a barrier spray to put along your doorways etc to stop them from coming in.

If you're after a more natural alternative to heavy duty insecticides, then eucalyptus oil is apparently the way forwards. I think you dilute it and wipe down floors and surfaces inside the house to repel them. I haven't tried it, but friends with small DCs who don't want poisons lying around where toddlers can get them swear by it, so might be worth a try. It'll make your house smell nice if nothing else

[TorturesInAHalfHell]

Baits - Coles/Woolies definitely, they're easy to find.

Every time I go to Sydney I am surprised all over again by how many roaches there are. Adelaide not as bad.

[YeahBut]

Baits and surface spray - you can get them all at Coles or Woolies.

[echt]

If you squish them without the Alien-stylee egg explosion, just put the corpse near an ant trail and watch as they dismember it. Gets greeny points, and kids love to watch it. :o

[ben5]

Mortein, they do a big range to kill anything. are woolies are doing a speical on them at the moment but we are on the west coast(yes australia has a west coast the world doesn't stop at adelaide!!)

[Eralc]

Eewww echt - that's grim (but I suspect it would make my almost 3 year olds day!)

Will go to Woolies on a Mortein mission tomorrow (and ben5, I thought Western Australia was one of those made up places like Narnia, that you just read about in books!! )

[oldnewmummy]

Have a can of hairspray in the bathroom. When you see one, spray it copiously in hairspray. Ith then goes all sticky and can't move and you can pick it up with loo paper and flush it down the loo.

You have my sympathy. We're in Singapore and building work nearby dislodged some cockroaches so that for weeks we were seeing about 40 per day. Took several goes of professional pest control to get rid of them.

[ninedragons]

Baits everywhere (esp places like behind the dishwasher and fridge and under the kitchen units, if you can get access).

The other thing is that you have to be meticulous about having every single crumb of food sealed up or in the fridge. Wipe all kitchen surfaces every single night.

An old boyfriend of mine lived in a flat in King's Cross that was so infested he had to keep everything (weetbix, toothpaste etc) in the fridge. Urrrrrgggghhhhh

[tefal]

Or you can get the mortein bombs which I used every 3 months. That and keeping all crumbs and work surfaces really clean.

[eidsvold]

I put out the roach baits from moretein and they work very well. That is all I have ever used

If not - pay for a pest control guy to come and spray

[sunnydelight]

Have your house professionally sprayed - it's well worth $275 a year! We've been in this house two years, so sprayed twice now and we never get cockroaches (or other nasties).

[VFemme]

I second sunnydelight, we've had our house sprayed and (touch wood) we've seen far less of those darn little bassas than we ever did before.

(And we back onto bushland so have the potential to be an insect-fest...)

[Gmarksthespot]

Agree with having your house sprayed. It works for 12 months and there are non-toxic options.

I am Australian. Lived here my whole 37 years. I have never had anything poisonous in my house or near my house. I am baffled as to what people think goes on in this country .

[HowsTheSerenity]

And it is another reminded of the creepy crawlies I will be coming back too.

My Mum is a fan of the 'spray it with fly spray until it is white and foamy' method of pest control. It seems to work.

[sunnydelight]

Gmarks, most of my neighbours have had funnelwebs in their pools and friends who live about 15 minutes away lost a dog after he was bitten by a snake in their garden (wildlife guys came and caught the snake and it was definitely a nasty). I love Australia so am happy to view the deadly things as a minor inconvenience, but they are definitely out there